AfriGeneas Military Research Forum Archive

HENDON dies at 96

OPELIKA -- Ernest Hendon, the last survivor of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, has died at 96.

Attorney Fred Gray, who represented victims of the study in a federal lawsuit, released a statement Sunday saying Hendon died Friday at East Alabama Medical Center. Gray could not immediately be reached for further comment.

Hendon was one of 623 men who unwittingly participated in the experiment by the U.S. Public Health Service to examine the effects of untreated syphilis on a group of Macon County black men from 1932 to 1972.

The men were not told they had the disease and in 1972 filed suit. The government agreed to provide free medical care and $9 million in payments to the victims and their families.

In 1997, President Bill Clinton apologized to the study participants. Hendon did not attend the ceremony, but observed the apology over a special satellite feed to Tuskegee.

Funeral arrangements with Burton's Funeral Home in Tuskegee were pending